The Ship Model Forum

An in-box review of Yamashita Hobby 1/700 IJN “Mutsuki”, Mutsuki class destroyer December, 1941 Kit # NV11 by Dan Kaplan has been posted.

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Timothy Dike
Owner & Administrator
ModelWarships.com

Thanks for the review Dan. I'll have to add one of these to my unbuilt Mutsuki stash. You were going to add something later about the hull construction it appears from your statements near the dimensions, but I never figured out what it was.

Hmm. I was referring to the waterline plate . I should have been more explicit when I wrote up that sprue. Sorry.

From Dan's review linked above:
"With this unique bottom plate, Yamashita Hobby takes a more proactive approach to keeping a waterline hull flat. Essentially, it enforces hull stiffness by adding a raised, lengthwise ridge along the top of the flat bottom plate. It resembles an upside down “T” in cross-section, along with some bulked-up attachment points along the hull and within the bow. I did not test fit it, but it certainly seems like it could do the job."

To be very clear, this piece is not a waterline plate but a bottom plate as stated. After assembly of the three hull parts, the two sides of the hull completely enclose this third "unique" part; leaving none of it visible. Having built the YH Fubuki, it seems to me that this new method for the hull has overcome the hogging problem their earlier kits, with the one piece hulls, were prone to.

My Mutsuki arrived in yesterday's mail and I had to immediately go beyond fondling the plastic to assemble the three hull pieces. Very nice; the bow profile is exceptional.

Everybody goes gaga over whatever Flyhawk does; with some justification. IMHO, with this release Yamashita Hobby is right up there with Flyhawk in terms of fineness of molding and level of detail.

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Harold

While appearing a very nice kit, I wouldn't put it "right up there with Flyhawk". That treadplate pattern looks a little over-size for 1/700 - but maybe that's par for the course? The ships' boats could have been better detailed. Use of slide-molds would have resulted in better detailed parts, and fewer joint seams to eliminate. Will a dedicated PE set be expected? Even though I don't have a lot of interest in IJN, this does look like a decent, and well-priced kit to pick up. I would have preferred an equally detailed WWl destroyer to accompany my Kajika Kongo.

Your mileage may differ

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Harold

But I did say I would probably get one!

The problem with this is that there were no true 1st class IJN DDs available before 1919, and that would be the Minekazes. I think Seals Models makes some of the earlier classes.